Systematics

Palamedea cornuta Linnaeus, 1766, Systema Naturae, 12th edition, Tome 1, p. 232 (20 Linnaeus, C. (1766) Systema Naturae. Twelfth edition. Tome 1. Laurentii Salvii, Stockholm. Close ); in the opinion of Johnsgard (21 Johnsgard, P. A. (1979). Order Anseriformes. In Check-list of Birds of the World (E. Mayr and G. W. Cottrell, Editors), Museum of Comparative Zoology, Cambridge, MA, USA. pp. 425–506. Close ) based chiefly on the “Anhima” of Marcgrave (22 Piso, W., Laet, J. D., Elzevir, L., Hackius, F., Sulivan, R. J., Marggraf, G. [...] Jay I. Kislak Collection. (1648) Historia naturalis Brasiliae: auspicio et beneficio illustriss. I. Mauriti Com. Nassau illius provinciae et maris summi praefecti adornata: in qua non tantum plantae et animalia, sed et indigenarum morbi, ingenia et mores describuntur et iconibus supra quingentas illustrantur. Lugdun. Batavorum: Apud Franciscum Hackium, et Amstelodami, apud Lud. Elzevirium. [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress. Close :215), and “Le Kamichy” of Brisson (23 Brisson, M.-J., and F. N. Martinet (1760). Ornithologie, ou, Méthode contenant la division des oiseaux en ordres, sections, genres, especes and leurs variétés. Paris, France. Close Tome 5:518).—“Brasilia, Guiana”; eastern Brazil (ex Marcgrave) designated by Hellmayr (24 Hellmayr, C. E. (1908). An account of the birds collected by Mons. G. A. Baer in the State of Goyaz, Brazil. Novitates Zoologicae 15(1):13–102. Close ). In fact, Linnaeus used a range of six prior sources as indications for “his” new species, although the ones singled out by Johnsgard might be deemed the most important.

Linnaeus based the first scientific binomial on two key earlier sources, one of which (22 Piso, W., Laet, J. D., Elzevir, L., Hackius, F., Sulivan, R. J., Marggraf, G. [...] Jay I. Kislak Collection. (1648) Historia naturalis Brasiliae: auspicio et beneficio illustriss. I. Mauriti Com. Nassau illius provinciae et maris summi praefecti adornata: in qua non tantum plantae et animalia, sed et indigenarum morbi, ingenia et mores describuntur et iconibus supra quingentas illustrantur. Lugdun. Batavorum: Apud Franciscum Hackium, et Amstelodami, apud Lud. Elzevirium. [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress. Close ) features a plate. There is no evidence that Linnaeus ever had material pertaining to this species in his own possession, so under these circumstances, the bird figured in Marcgrave (22 Piso, W., Laet, J. D., Elzevir, L., Hackius, F., Sulivan, R. J., Marggraf, G. [...] Jay I. Kislak Collection. (1648) Historia naturalis Brasiliae: auspicio et beneficio illustriss. I. Mauriti Com. Nassau illius provinciae et maris summi praefecti adornata: in qua non tantum plantae et animalia, sed et indigenarum morbi, ingenia et mores describuntur et iconibus supra quingentas illustrantur. Lugdun. Batavorum: Apud Franciscum Hackium, et Amstelodami, apud Lud. Elzevirium. [Pdf] Retrieved from the Library of Congress. Close ) might be considered one syntype. In contrast, Brisson provided only a textual description, and very few of his specimens are known to survive, all of them in Paris (25 Steinheimer, F. D. (2005). The whereabouts of pre-nineteenth century bird specimens. Zoologische Mededelingen Leiden 79(3):45–67. Close ) although this species is not apparently represented among them (26 Voisin, C., and J.-F. Voisin (2016). List of type specimens of birds in the collections of the Muséum national d’Histoire naturelle (Paris, France). 27. Phoenicopteridae and Anatidae. Journal of the National Museum (Prague), Natural History Series 185(7):65–75. Close ).

None described.

Monotypic.

The relationships within Anhimidae are not fully resolved, but the Horned Screamer is presumed to be sister to the remaining two species, the Northern Screamer (Chauna chavaria) and Southern Screamer (Chauna torquata). In one study of a phylogenetic supertree analysis of the Anseriformes and Galliformes, Horned Screamer was indeed found to be sister to both Northern Screamer and Southern Screamer; however, support for the node uniting those species was low (27 Eo, S. H., O. R. P. Bininda-Emonds, and J. P. Carroll (2009). A phylogenetic supertree of the fowls (Galloanserae, Aves). Zoologica Scripta 38(5):465–481. Close ).

None reported.

Vernacular Names

• Brazil: "Anhuma," "Anhuma Camhitaou" (Tupí), "Inhuma," "Kamichi" or "Camichi" (28 Whitley, G. R. (1976). Utilization of certain tame birds in the New World in pre-Columbian times. PhD thesis, Texas A&M University, Texas, USA. Close )
• Colombia: "Aruco" or "Buitre de Ciénaga"
• Ecuador: "Canclon" or "Gritador Unicornio" (29 Alava, J. J., X. Arosemena, E. Astudillo, M. Costantino, M. Peñafiel, and C. Bohorquez (2007). Occurrence, abundance and notes on some threatened Ecuadorian birds in the El Canclón Lagoon, Manglares Churute Ecological Reserve. Ornitología Neotropical 18(2):223–232. Close , 30 Martínez-A., D., and P. Gastezzi-A. (2014). Registros nuevos de la distribución del canclón (Anhima cornuta) en el suroeste tropical de Ecuador. Ornitología Colombiana 14:125–129. Close )
• Paraguay: "Chajá Real"
• Peru: "Camungo" or Gritador Unicornio"
• Uruguay: "Chajá Cornudo" (31 LePage, D. (2023). Avibase: the World Bird Database [web application]. Accessed 2023. https://avibase.bsc-eoc.org/ Close )
• Venezuela: "Aruco," "Cachimi," or "Camuco" (32 Verea, C., E. J. Calvo, and M. A. Pacheco (2023). Los Nombres de las Aves de Venezuela: Comunes, Científicos, Aborígenes. Segunda Parte: Passeriformes (Suboscines). Instituto de Zoología y Ecología Tropical (IZET), Facultad de Ciencias, Universidad Central de Venezuela, Caracas, Venezuela. Close )

Scientific Name

The name “Anhima” comes originally from the Tupí "Anhuma;" whereas “cornuta” derives from the Latin cornutus, referring to the long (horn-like) feather that protrudes from the bird’s head.

A fossil screamer, Chaunoides antiquus, from the Middle Tertiary of southeastern Brazil is the first fossil species of the family Anhimidae to be recognized (33 Alvarenga, H. M. F. (1999). A fossil Screamer (Anseriformes: Anhimidae) from the middle Tertiary of southeastern Brazil. In Avian Paleontology at the Close of the 20^th Century: Proceedings of the 4^th International Meeting of the Society of Avian Paleontology and Evolution, Washington, D.C., 4-7 June 1996 (S. L. Olson, Editor) Washington, D.C., USA: Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology 89). pp 223–230. Close ); however, undescribed fossils of possible screamers are known from the early Eocene of Wyoming and England and the Oligocene (Deseadean) of Argentina (33 Alvarenga, H. M. F. (1999). A fossil Screamer (Anseriformes: Anhimidae) from the middle Tertiary of southeastern Brazil. In Avian Paleontology at the Close of the 20^th Century: Proceedings of the 4^th International Meeting of the Society of Avian Paleontology and Evolution, Washington, D.C., 4-7 June 1996 (S. L. Olson, Editor) Washington, D.C., USA: Smithsonian Contributions to Paleobiology 89). pp 223–230. Close ). Also, pre-Columbian remains of a Horned Screamer were documented in Venezuela (34 Wetmore, A. (1935). Pre-Columbian bird remains from Venezuela. Auk 52(3):328–329. Close ).